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The Landscape Conservation Bulletin
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A bi-monthly publication of the Network
for
Landscape Conservation
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Dear Network Friends and Partners,
Over the past month I have spoken with people who are advancing landscape conservation across the country, from the private large landowners of the Eastern U.S., to the rural communities of the Intermountain West, to the urban environs of Portland, Oregon.
Our goal is to help connect people in this diverse and rapidly growing field so that we can learn from one another and work more closely together to sustain healthy, connected landscapes along the urban-rural-wild and public-private land continuums.
In this Bulletin, we are introducing a new
"Perspectives" column so you can hear more landscape conservation stories directly from people working on the ground. We have also started a
Facebook group and revitalized our
LinkedIn group to create more opportunities for practitioner interaction. We encourage you to join these conversations. And we ask you to consider joining the Network as a
Partner.
Thank you for your own great work and please be in touch
as we all move forward
.
Emily M. Bateson
Network Coordinator
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Perspectives: Landscape Conservation in Action
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Photo credit: Doc Miles |
The Tamalpais Lands Collaborative:
Measuring the ecological health of a multi-jurisdictional landscape
One of the San Francisco Bay Area's greatest natural treasures and an internationally recognized biodiversity hotspot, Mount Tamalpais is home to many unique plant and animal communities, including several rare and endemic species. In 2016,
One Tam - the partnership of the mountain's four land management agencies and the non-profit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy - launched a joint effort to better understand the health of the mountain's natural resources. This case study briefly describes this process, highlights some of the challenges and benefits of conducting a multi-agency ecological health assessment, and offers insights for other collaborative land management partnerships that might be considering undertaking a similar effort.
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Featured News
Call to action to be issued on landscape connectivity
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and Syngenta have just released a paper, "Landscape Connectivity: A Call to Action." Written from the business perspective, the report makes a clear and compelling case for why "landscape connectivity supports high levels of biodiversity and offers a range of environmental, economic, and social benefits," and how "multifunctional landscapes can restore ecological integrity, improve human well-being, and support businesses." The report emphasizes the critical role of multi-stakeholder processes and calls on stakeholders to "incorporate connectivity into their planning and practices and to establish public-private-community partnerships." The paper is being informally presented in Brussels, Belgium, and Montreux, Switzerland, to the business community this week, and will be officially shared with ministers and country representatives at the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification COP 13 in September.
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Featured News
Progress Report highlights Landscape Conservation Cooperatives progress
In December 2015 the National Academy of Sciences completed its A Review of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, a report that underscored the necessity of a landscape approach in meeting the nation's conservation challenges and the effectiveness of the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs).
Since the release of that review in 2015, the LCC Network has been actively working to bring focused attention to the findings and recommendations. A 'Next Steps' team has worked with four working groups around priority recommendations emerging from the NAS report. In February the LCC Network released a one-year progress report, highlighting the progress achieved to date and outlining work still to be completed.
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Featured News
Update on NLC landscape conservation survey
In November, the Network launched a survey to better understand trends within the field of landscape conservation - more than 150 practitioners responded to share their work. The wealth of data collected in these responses is currently being synthesized so that we can help advance a shared understanding of this evolving field. Stay tuned in the coming months for a more complete report.
For the time being, we are pleased to announce the initiatives (selected in a drawing from all respondents) that received the two 'thank you' gift cards - these initiatives showcase the diversity of themes, approaches, and geography in this rapidly growing field:
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Additional Landscape Conservation News
Collaborative initiative launched to conserve wetland forests of Southeast and Gulf Coast Plains
Article highlights potential devastating impact of a continuous border wall on wildlife habitat along the U.S.-Mexico border - one of North America's most biodiverse areas
New book - Science, Conservation and National Parks - charts a course for the second century of National Parks as they confront an era of rapid environmental change and cultural changes
National Park Service releases Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategy guidance document
Rocky Mountain Partner Forum presentation highlights utility of social network analysis in managing landscape conservation initiatives
New research explores monitoring success in landscape-level connectivity restoration efforts.
Read
synopsis
or access the
article
Report highlights dramatic growth in private investments in conservation
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative's Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant Program awards five conservation grants to encourage collaboration across scale on conserving forests and strengthening forest-dependent communities
Report highlights role of coastal wetlands for reducing climate risk in Mid-Atlantic States, and sets a framework for collaboration on regional approaches to climate risk reduction and resilience
Paper in Ecological Applications offers insights for improving predictive powers of wildfire models in western U.S.
Guide released for applying LANDFIRE geospatial data - broad-scale vegetation, wildland fuel, fire regime, disturbance, and topographic characteristics - to localized land management/conservation planning and wildland fire applications
Special issue of
Ecography focuses on habitat fragmentation research
Read
synopsis
or explore the
special issue
New partnership has emerged in Rhode Island to focus on forest fragmentation
Ducks Unlimited and Gulf Coast conservation partners develop decision support tool to target wetland and grassland conservation efforts
Technological advances to wildlife population monitoring at the landscape level: the use of environmental DNA monitoring in aquatic systems as an emerging conservation tool
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Upcoming Conferences & Opportunities
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Upcoming landscape conservation funding opportunities:
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Promotional video for WCS Climate Adaptation Fund |
Climate Adaptation Fund
, Wildlife Conservation Society - p
re-proposal deadline April 7, 2017
Acres for America Program, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation - pre-proposal deadline April 13, 2017
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Norfolk, Virginia
Front Royal, Virginia
Baltimore, MD
Boulder, Colorado
April 21-23, 2017 -- Earth Optimism Summit
Washington D.C.
Reno, Nevada
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Salt Lake City, Utah
Durham, North Carolina
Cartagena, Columbia
Denver, CO
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Webinars & Additional Resources
A weekly podcast that explores the challenges presented by adapting to climate change and the approaches the field's best minds believe are already working.
A Conservation Biology Institute webinar
March 30, 2017
The Social-Ecological Resilience and Changing Landscapes Webinar Series
April 5, 2017
A National Park Service "Scaling Up" webinar
April 25, 2017
A National Adaptation Forum webinar
April 26, 2017
A Conservation Biology Institute webinar
April 27, 2017
A National Park Service "Scaling Up" webinar
May 24, 2017
A National Park Service "Scaling Up" webinar
June 21, 2017
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The Network for Landscape Conservation is the community of practice for practitioners advancing collaborative, cross-boundary conservation as an essential approach to protect nature, community, and culture in the 21st Century.
Contact Emily Bateson, Network Coordinator, for more information.
Contributions of news, upcoming events, and resources for future Bulletins are welcomed.
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